Comms Hero wasn't a planned community. It began as a one-off Manchester event to offer an affordable, non-London alternative for comms professionals. Its success led to rapid expansion and organic community growth, driven by a genuine desire to serve the audience differently.

A formal conference ticket isn't necessary to extract significant value. The ecosystem of events, vendor lounges, and networking dinners surrounding a major conference like Dreamforce offers just as many opportunities for learning and connection as the official sessions, often in more intimate and accessible settings.

Campaigns & Elections maintains a strict "no trades" policy, refusing to exchange advertising for a vendor's services. This ensures they are never perceived as favoring one service provider over another, protecting their core value as an impartial platform for their entire industry and avoiding conflicts of interest.

Comms Hero has a strict policy of never selling its branded merchandise like hoodies and notepads. This makes the swag obtainable only through community participation, creating a powerful sense of exclusivity and turning simple items into coveted symbols of membership.

The ROI of attending an event extends beyond lead generation. A key, often overlooked, metric is client retention. Simply showing up at an industry event can prevent existing customers from churning to a competitor who is present, making defensive retention a primary pillar of event strategy.

The podcast Acquired strategically avoids sponsors from contentious spaces, like competing venture capital firms, because they don't "feel Switzerland enough." This principle of partnering with neutral, respected leaders ensures their sponsor choices don't alienate listeners or compromise their editorial independence.

Instead of focusing on immediate ROI, structure events to foster genuine connections and goodwill ("karma"). This builds a stronger, more resilient brand over time, even if it means creating opportunities for competitors by inviting them.

The most valuable, long-term relationships at conferences are not made during official sessions but in informal settings like dinners or excursions. Actively inviting people to these outside activities is key to building deeper connections that last for years.

The most important part of a specialized conference isn't the talks, which are typically recorded, but the 'hallway track'—the unstructured conversations with speakers and other expert attendees. Maximizing this value requires intentionality and a clear goal for engagement, as these serendipitous connections are the primary reason to attend in person.